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I am excited to share with you that yesterday - July 25th -- I officially filed to run for the Dunwoody City Council District Two seat, At Large. I hope to meet with you and as many other Dunwoody residents as possible in the months ahead as I work to serve on City Council, discussing with you ways of “putting Dunwoody first”, creating a better future for our entire community, giving all residents a voice on City issues.

Minutes from Meeting with Jay Pryor

Caveat: I’m sure I’ve missed some points. But you should get
the gist of the conversation.

ISSUE #1 – Don’t see any Cyclists on
Chamblee Dunwoody / Not a good route for cyclists / Too busy for bikes / No
room for cars to pass

Responses:

A - Showed him the Strava print out. 82 registered Strava
users have ridden that segment 2,829 times since circa 2011.

B – Gave story of the original See & Be Seen Dunwoody Cycling route that
was on this segment. After a couple of weeks, riders had it changed, because
it’s not bike friendly (no shoulders, narrow lanes, busy, etc.). Said organized group rides all try to minimize our time on any busy roads, so we’re
not that readily visible.

C – Said we make up our own Recreational routes to avoid
traffic and for exercise. A completely different purpose from getting from
point A to B in a utilitarian fashion to go shopping, as a commuter, etc.

D – Told him that GDOT put bike lanes last year on Ponce de Leon
in Atlanta, with around 33,000 cars per day. – Jay asked if there were bicycles on it, I
said yes. I should have shown him a video of that, too.

This video was taken during evening
rush hour on Monday, August 4th -- just a few days ago.

E – Played him my video of me
riding on Chamblee-Dunwoody & how “uncomfortable” / “dangerous” it is.
Said of course people like my wife would never choose to ride on this road in
its current condition.

The video clearly shows cars crossing
the yellow center line & Roswell PD in the comments section clearly states
it’s permissible to do such. I gave examples of a Post truck. Delivery Truck,
UPS. Or in rural areas, farm tractors.

G – Described to him how nice Mt. Vernon is west of
Ashford-Dunwoody with the new Bike Lanes. Before, cars were having to wait for
cyclists. And we cyclists had to “squeeze” in to ride, often getting “buzzed”.
Now we both have our own place, which keeps traffic moving smoothly and it’s
safer.

H – Asked him to think of roads as:

“Linear Strips

of

Publicly Owned Rights of Way

Used for the Movement

of

Goods & Humans”

and
that it was up to us what we did with them (-vs- strictly motor vehicles)

I - Jay brought up Columns Drive and when he’s
driving his car, he’s so “fearful” of hitting bicyclists that at times he won’t
even try to pass. I replied that I do
not like to ride on Columns. I said that because
there’s NO SIDEWALKS, it FORCES pedestrians & runners out onto the street.

ISSUE #2 – Jay (paraphrasing) indicated that his perception is that bicycling is mostly for optional recreation / asked if there actually were people out there going from A to B, etc.

and how it’ll be
a connected network. Once it’s connected, there will be more & more people
using them.

B – 40% of all trips in the US are 4 miles or less. That’s
too easy to ride a bike. Discussed Jett Ferry / Williamsburg to Dunwoody
Village is two miles. & Dunwoody Village to Georgetown is also only 2
miles. Not only will this open it up for weekend casual recreational riders
wanting to get some basic exercise, it will allow people to ride their bikes to
Starbucks, meet friends for lunch, short errands, etc.

As an example, I discussed the vast numbers of parents driving
their kids to school. Said if we could have SAFE Routes to School (mentioned
Decatur), then a few percentage of those parents just might let their kids walk
or ride their bike to school, REDUCING motor vehicle congestion in the morning.

D – Roberts Drive Bike Lanes (2011)-- Said once the bike
lanes were installed, Austin Elementary had to get a THIRD bike rack, with all
of the kids riding their bikes to school.

Told the city WIDENED a couple hundred feet on
Roberts (for about $50k) on a particular segment to get the extra width to have
the Bike Lanes. Said it was 100% within the Public Right of Way. Said that this
year (2014) just now the Council has approved installing sidewalks on the west
side of Roberts along the same segment, making it a “Complete Street”.

They are building out a network
within the business district of trails to connect the office buildings to the
two MARTA stations, shops, restaurants and offices.

ISSUE #3 – City
has to use Eminent Domain to acquire land to build the Bike Lanes on Chamblee-Dunwoody

Response: I said I hadn’t heard that at all. Jay said he got
this information from our Public Works Director, Michael Smith

[Note: I followed up
with Michael & he said the project boundaries did NOT require any land
acquisition. Rather, Construction Easements are being sought with adjacent
property owners.]

ISSUE #4 – City will NOT install the
sidewalks as part of the current “Complete Streets” project on Chamblee-
Dunwoody if it’s over budget. The city will (paraphrasing) ‘First &
foremost” widen the road by the required 8 feet (true) and install Bike Lanes.
Then, if there’s enough budgeted money left over the city would install the
sidewalks.

Response: I said I hadn’t heard that at all. Jay said he got
this information from our Public Works Director,

Michael Smith

[Note: I followed up
with Michael & he said the project bid includes BOTH the road widening for
Bike Lanes AND Sidewalks. Need to see what amount the returned bids come in at.
***IF*** they were over budget then the sidewalks can be installed at a later
date. It’s not an “either or”. IMHO, it could be similar to Roberts Drive –
Bike Lanes in 2011, Sidewalks in 2014]

Takeaways:

I just thanked Jay for
his time. It was cordial, casual and very open. I didn’t ask him to change his
mind. I just asked him to take a look at the information I was providing and to
consider it.

·“81% of respondents either
strongly agreed (37.0%) or agreed (43.9%) that they would ride a bicycle more
frequently if their community had better bicycle facilities such as bike lanes
or multi-use paths.

1-page extract from page 2 of the May
2014 Budget Report showing the Pie Chart of City Expenditures. Used this
just to put things in perspective of where we are spending our money. Jay said
it’s a shame we don’t have active Parks & Recreation system such as in
Roswell.

Provided him a hard copy of the following original & unedited 2-page “Vision”
document. Told him that I used this doc in 2009 & met with each
Councilmember, the Mayor and other city leaders to discuss. (I did not go over
the items in the doc.)

·Account for both conventional street and “off-road /
dirt” bicycle use

Formally Adopt
“Complete Streets” Policy

“CHICAGO’S
COMPLETE STREETS POLICY

The
safety and convenience of all users of the transportation system including
pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, freight, and motor vehicle drivers
shall be accommodated and balanced in all types of transportation and
development projects and through all phases of a project so that even the most
vulnerable – children, elderly, and persons with disabilities – can travel
safely within the public right of way.” (Alliance for Biking & Walking)